A Season for Killing Blondes (23 page)

I wondered what she had found and motioned for her to continue.

“I’ve come up with my own version of events, but it would never stand up in court. We need more proof.” She clenched and unclenched her hands.

I sensed that Grace wasn’t ready to share the diary with me. I decided to focus on her intuitive feelings. “All we have to do is figure out who attended both events. That should cut back on the number of suspects.”

She pulled out a sheet of folded paper from her backpack. “We’re down to seventeen possibilities.”

“Seventeen of last night’s guests were at the memorial service? Sofia told me fewer than twenty people were there.”

“Sofia came later in the afternoon,” Grace explained. “We had a steady flow of visitors. Most people didn’t stay too long.”

I didn’t expect to see so many of Sofia’s neighbors on the list. “You mentioned that almost everyone had some kind of negative experience with Anna May. I’m curious about my aunt and uncle. What kind of business would they have had with Anna May?”

“Exactly that,” she said. “In June, they hired Carrie Ann to help with their window treatments. The wrong set of blinds were delivered and, when they complained, Anna May took the call and became loud and abusive. Your aunt started crying, and your uncle yelled and demanded a refund. Carrie Ann got on the telephone and managed to calm everyone.”

“I wonder why they didn’t just ask Sofia for her advice and help.”

“Your aunt mentioned something about Sofia being too busy with your condo and left it at that.”

“Well, it’s a moot point. They aren’t on your list, and I never considered any of them suspects. Let’s check out some of these other people.”

“The bad boys, as you like to call them, all had alibis conveniently supplied by their wives, with the exception of Ray Centis, of course.”

“Do you think Ray might have been involved?”

“I don’t know much about him, but he is a decent sort, and I think he would steer clear of Anna May after that disastrous marriage.” She paused and added, “He participated in a fund-raising event all day Saturday and didn’t get home until dark. Well after both Natalia and Anna May were killed.”

“He’s off the hook. But from your tone, it doesn’t sound like the other four couples are. Any gut feelings about one of them?”

“The men have admitted to giving Anna May money, and I don’t think it went any further. Some of those wives are a bit possessive of their husbands, and they don’t like other women moving in on their territory.” Grace added, “Last night, they made catty comments about Sofia, especially after that outstanding meal. Did she get any outside help with that?”

“My mother and aunt helped, but Sofia is the mastermind when it comes to anything domestic.” I waved my hand toward the rest of the office. “She even helped design and decorate my offices.”

Grace nodded approvingly as her eyes traveled around the room. “She could have given Three Sisters Decorating some real competition.” Grace circled the names of two ladies on the list. “Let’s move on to some of the other suspects. Sofia’s next door neighbor, Leah Dottori spoke in very angry tones about Anna May. Both Leah and Anna May go to Curves. They were very close and supported each other’s progress. Then Anna May became jealous of Leah and started making inappropriate comments about her husband and children.”

“Anna May went to Curves?” I mumbled, “Sofia never mentioned it.”

Grace raised her eyebrows. “Sofia goes to Curves? I wouldn’t bother with a gym if I had invested all that money in exercise equipment. That room must have cost her a pretty penny.”

“Sofia has an exercise room?” While I never listened too closely when Sofia discussed her decorating projects, I would have recalled any mention of an exercise room. “When did she put that in?”

“I don’t know, but now that I think about it, everything did look brand new.” Her eyes widened. “Don’t you go there?”

“She comes over here, or we end up meeting at our parents’ homes. I don’t know what will happen now that Roberto is in the picture.” I added, “Or not. It sounds like Roberto is still on the trail for hot blondes.”

“He better not look my way again.” Grace shuddered. “He’s too slick and too old for my taste.”

I pointed to Roberto’s name on the list. “Did he attend the memorial service with Sofia?”

“My mother and I were surprised to see them as a couple last night, so they must have come separately. She came alone and didn’t stay too long. I remember my mother introducing her as your cousin, and then she disappeared right after the service.”

“They hadn’t come out as a couple yet,” I explained. “Her divorce wasn’t finalized until last week, so they could have been in the room at the same time.”

“I wondered why she threw that gala event last night.”

“What was Roberto’s beef with Anna May?” I couldn’t visualize any kind of relationship between those two.

“While grocery shopping with her son, Mrs. Ongaro lost control of her cart and hit Anna May’s stationary car. No major damage, but there were a few scratches. I don’t know how Anna May even noticed. Her car was at least ten years old and not well-maintained. Anna May started to yell and threatened to call the police and insurance company.” Grace shook her head. “Mrs. Ongaro became very upset and burst into tears. Roberto wrote Anna May a check. A generous one.”

“What a spoiled brat! Did Anna May have any friends left at the end of her life?”

“Other than my mother, I don’t think so.”

“Your poor mother is a saint.”

“She went through a very difficult period after my father left,” Grace said. “But she’s starting to pick up now. Before I left last week, I cleaned out all the junk food from the cupboards. She’s walking each morning with one of the neighbours, and she’s thinking about joining a gym.” Grace put her hands on mine. “You’ve made it so much easier for her to continue.”

“I’m glad. Do you think she’ll stay in Sudbury?”

“I’m trying to convince her to move to southern Ontario. She detests Toronto, but she could live in Kitchener or Barrie. We have relatives in both cities.” She took a deep breath and continued, “My mother is the main reason I’m here today. I want closure on the murders. I want to find the murderer and bring that person to justice. And I need your help to do it.”

“I’d love to help, but I don’t think I can. We haven’t had much success whittling down this list of suspects. Do you think those two wives were involved?”

“I’ve narrowed it down to a couple of people,” Grace said. “But I am not ready to share that information with you. It could be dangerous, and I don’t want to upset you.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Because I want to ambush the suspects in the alleyway behind your office.”

“And then what?”

“I want a confrontation and a confession.”

“Does your mother know about any of this?”

“I haven’t shared any of my premonitions with her. It would upset her, and she’s made too much progress to have a setback now. I won’t mess with that.”

“But you’ll mess with a murderer. You could be the next victim. You’re a blonde, and you have Godfrey blood. That’s a dangerous combination these days.”

“I’m not afraid.”

“We need to get the police involved.” I picked up the phone. “Let’s call Carlo.”

“How do you think he’ll react when I talk about my intuitive feelings?”

“You convinced me.”

“But you are open to the possibility. You’ve had a lifetime of listening to your mother’s prophetic dreams.”

“How did you know about her dreams?”

“She told me about the dream she had the night before Carrie Ann died.”

I remembered my mother mentioning a dream, but I had pooh-poohed her concerns. She hadn’t brought it up again until last night. I turned my attention back to Grace.

“You may downplay them, but in your heart of hearts, I think you believe in them. And you want closure. Until this matter is resolved, you and my mother won’t have any peace of mind.”

“Melly Grace taught you well,” I said. “If you ever get tired of the creative life and want more money, consider a legal career.”

“Maybe someday. Right now, I love what I’m doing.” She persisted. “So will you help me? I don’t expect you to become directly involved. For you, the risk is a minimal one.”

“I will need to know all the details, and Carlo Fantin must be told about the plan. We won’t talk about prophetic dreams. We’ll mention gut feelings. Most men can identify with that. Those are my two conditions.”

Grace groaned. “Oh, all right. I know you want an excuse, any excuse to call him.”

“Grace!”

“It’s okay. You’re allowed to have the hots for him. I totally approve, and I want to ambush the murderer.”

Chapter 27

It was the first time I saw Carlo in jeans and a sweatshirt. His pants were clean but well-worn and the dark blue Roots sweatshirt looked like a recent purchase. He arrived at the back door of the office in less than fifteen minutes after I placed the call.

“Are you trying to set a new record for responding to voicemail?” Grace asked as she winked at me.

“While dropping off some forms, I happened to hear Gilda’s voice on the machine.” A hint of a smile crossed his face as he turned to me. “It seems every telephone conversation with you has some kind of drama attached to it, but I must say today’s message took the prize. And to make it even more mysterious, you insisted I use the back entrance.”

“Grace thinks someone has been watching and following her,” I explained

“How long has this been going on?” Carlo turned to Grace.

“I noticed it the day of the memorial service and this morning.” Grace said.

Carlo’s eyes met mine. “I take it you have news of some kind.”

“I don’t have all the details, but Grace has a plan to ambush the murderer.” I wanted Grace to take over the conversation.

“I thought you had uncovered a new piece of evidence. What’s this about ambushing the murderer? Do you know how dangerous that is?” He maintained eye contact with me.

“Slow down, Detective, and chill a bit.” Grace smiled confidently. “I have very strong gut feelings about the murderer. I have narrowed it down to two suspects, both of whom were at last night’s party.”

She had Carlo’s full attention. “Strong gut feelings. Hmm. How often do you get these feelings?”

“I felt this way when my grandma died and when my father took up with the office bimbo.”

“Who do you suspect?” Carlo folded his arms, his expression newly tense.

“I’m not ready to say.” Grace nodded toward me. “It would be too dangerous.”

“If you don’t plan to share this information, why did you even bother calling me?” His jaw tightened and his lips formed a thin line of anger.

“I told her I wouldn’t get involved unless you knew about this,” I said. “I’m still holding you to that promise, Grace.”

Carlo cast a steely glance in my direction. “What kind of plan have you hatched?”

I nodded toward Grace. “I’m waiting for Grace to be more forthcoming.”

“Oh, all right. I’ll tell him but only him.” She leaned closer and whispered in his ear.

Carlo paled and closed his eyes.

“You agree with her, don’t you?” I started to tremble and had to lean on my desk.

“Yes, yes I do.” He maintained eye contact with Grace. “How did you come up with that?”

“After Anna May died, I spent an entire week helping my mother clean out her office and bedroom. I found a diary which Anna May kept. It’s written in a secret code and shorthand which I have been able to decipher. I had to fill in some of the missing spaces—”

“You found Anna May’s diary, and you didn’t think to turn it in?” Carlo raised his voice. “Young lady, you can’t just take evidence away. You could be charged—”

“It wasn’t at the crime scene,” Grace spoke defiantly. “The diary was in one of Anna May’s chest drawers. And if you had found it first, you wouldn’t have been able to do much with it.”

“You should have let me be the judge of that,” Carlo answered testily.

Grace unzipped her backpack and pulled out the diary. She handed it over to Carlo.

As he flipped through the pages, his eyes narrowed. He threw the diary on the desk. “This is a mess. She must have been drunk or high on something.”

“I figured out the code,” Grace said.

“What code? There’s no rhyme or reason to any of these scribbles.” Carlo’s eyes flickered with anger and impatience as he glanced toward the door.

It’s Melly Grace’s code,” Grace explained. “She shared it with me when I visited several years ago. I remembered most of it, and I figured out the shorthand from an old Pitman textbook.”

Carlo’s features softened at the mention of Melly Grace’s name. He gave Grace his full attention.

Grace pulled out a folder and handed it to him. “I typed up a transcript of the diary for you, and I included a sheet with the code.”

Carlo skimmed through the document, nodding as he read. “I’m impressed, Ms. Robinson. So, what’s your plan?”

Grace flashed him one of her stunning smiles. “You’re in. Great!”

“I am willing to listen. That’s all. I cannot condone anything that would endanger either your life or Gilda’s.” Carlo leaned back in his chair. “So, let’s hear it.”

Grace took out two envelopes with carefully folded sheets of paper. “I plan to send each of the suspects the following note.” She handed one copy to me and another to Carlo.

The computer-generated note was brief and to the point:

I have found Anna May’s diary, and I think you may be interested in reading some of the October entries. Meet me on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m in the alleyway behind the ReCareering office.

Grace Robinson

I shivered, and Carlo raised his eyebrows. No one said anything for several minutes.

Grace became impatient. “I thought it would be very appropriate to meet where all of this started. I also picked the same time and day of the week as the first murder.”

“It’s intriguing,” Carlo said. “What makes you think either one of them will bite?”

“How do you plan to send these notes?” While I couldn’t imagine involving anyone else in this scheme, I didn’t want Grace delivering the notes.